Lithuanians Have Record Cash Stash in Pockets, Central Bank Says

By Bryan Bradley -
Jan 15, 2013

Lithuanians celebrated year-end
holidays with more cash in their pockets than ever before as the
Baltic nation’s economy expanded at one of the fastest paces in
the European Union, the central bank said.

Litai bills and coins in circulation reached a record value
of 11.64 billion litai ($4.5 billion), the Bank of Lithuania in
Vilnius said today in an e-mailed statement. That’s more than
$1,500 cash on hand for every person in the country of 2.97
million, according to Bloomberg calculations.

The Lithuanian government that took office in December is
considering legal limits on cash transactions to prevent untaxed
“gray economy” payments and boost revenue. The central bank,
which in November forecast that the economy would grow 3 percent
in 2012, said there was 5.4 percent more cash in circulation at
Dec. 31 than a year earlier.

“I’d link the increase more to economic growth than to the
shadow economy,” Alis Jaramaitis, head of cash service at the
Bank of Lithuania, said by telephone. “After all, it’s not just
cash that’s increasing, but also bank deposit amounts.”